so long, my adversary
by Like A Dove
Summary: Rey is snowed in at the bookstore she works at with Ben Solo, her very grumpy manager who she's been crushing on for a year. Too bad he hates her.
1. part one

"Finn, quit panicking."

"I am _not_ panicking!" Finn says it like a man who is clearly panicking.

He's Rey Johnson's best friend and favorite coworker, which is why she simply crosses her arms over her chest and gives him a patient smile. "If you want to leave, I don't mind staying and covering the rest of your shift."

His brown eyes widen a little with genuine surprise before his shoulder slump with relief. "You would do that for me?"

Rey represses a sigh. She briefly looks around at the large bookstore and video game emporium that they both work at, notes how there are approximately _zero_ customers, notes how the snow is really coming down outside and if Finn doesn't leave now he'll absolutely get stuck.

And getting stuck overnight in the store isn't really the problem; it's who Finn would potentially be stuck _with_ that's making him freak out.

Ben Solo is the most horrible person to work for in the entire world, Rey is sure of it. He's the closing manager on duty tonight, and from the way she hears him stomping about over in the children's section she suspects he's already resigned himself to being snowed in.

From an outsider's point of view, letting Finn leave and staying trapped in here with Ben Solo would be a very large sacrifice on her part.

Except, technically, it really wouldn't.

She's jolted from her thoughts when Finn suddenly wraps his fingers around her wrist to ger her attention.

"Why don't you ask Solo if you can leave too?"

Rey presses her lips together to keep from letting out a humorless laugh. She already knows that would be a losing battle. "There always has to be two people closing. You know that."

Her friend is growing frustrated. "Okay but let's be real here, the likelihood of the store remaining open is—"

"What are you two talking about?"

For all his stomping about moments before, Ben Solo has managed to sneak up on both Finn and Rey with surprising aplomb.

Finn looks away quickly to hide his scowl, hand dropping her wrist. Rey watches as he breathes deeply through his nose before turning to face their manager.

Solo is watching Finn with a bored, petulantly expectant expression, arms crossed over his chest in obvious displeasure.

"Rey and I were discussing how, because of the weather, we should both maybe go ahead and leave—"

"There has to be two people closing the store. It's company policy. You know that, Finn." Ben repeats the words that Rey had just said moments earlier, but he somehow makes it sound condescending, as if he can't believe that he has to be the one to point out what's obvious.

It should completely and utterly rankle Rey's nerves. Except…

Finn exhales through his nose again, clearly gathering patience. "If we don't leave now we might not make it home—"

"It's okay." Rey leans her hip against the countertop of the front register. "I already told you that I don't mind staying."

Finn's gaze darts back and forth between Rey and Solo. Solo, for his part, has turned and pinned his eyes on Rey, eyebrows narrowed.

"_Rey_." Finn is pleading. He's pleading because, well. He's trying to be a good friend.

He's trying to keep her from having to potentially stay at work overnight with Solo, who absolutely despises her. In fact, Rey didn't know someone had the capacity to hate someone as much as Ben Solo apparently hates her.

And yet…

"I don't mind," she says again, offering her friend a small, close mouthed smile. "I need the extra hours anyway."

Now that she thinks about it, this will probably push her into overtime. She pauses, waits for the backlash because she knows it's—

"It doesn't matter if you _don't mind_, Rey. Finn is the one who is scheduled to close with me tonight, not you." Solo doesn't quite snarl out the words, but they still ring harshly around the air between them

"Look," Rey snaps out, trying in vain to quell her rapidly pounding heart. She gestures toward the large front windows, where two inches of snow already cover the ground outside. "If Finn leaves now he should be able to make it home; he only lives two miles away."

And Rey lives much, much farther away, in an apartment complex she'd rather not let her coworkers and friends find out about.

"Because even if I did leave instead of Finn, as scheduled, there's no way I'd make it home in time. My car will get stuck and I'll end up walking to some random store or house or shed or god knows what in order not to freeze to death, so just let me stay and camp out here."

She proposes the idea almost as if she _wants_ to stay.

Finn is eyeing her like he's beginning to understand her ulterior motive.

They both then turn to Solo.

He looks pissed, taking turns glaring at both Rey and Finn, as if he's not sure which person he'd like to yell at first.

He finally rounds on Rey. "Fine." Then he turns on his heel and stalks away, tension woven all throughout his body.

"Are you really, super sure about this?" Finn is already putting on his coat and fiddling with his car keys, but Rey knows that if she changed her mind right this instant she knows he would stay. That's one of the many reasons why she adores him.

Rey nods, patting Finn's shoulder once he's all prepared to head outside. "It'll be fine."

He shakes his head as he looks at her. "Well, keep me updated." He waves his phone at her for emphasis.

She huffs out a laugh. "Got it."

And then Finn is gone, disappearing out into the swirling, snowy landscape of the _Skywalker Book and Game Emporium _parking lot. Leaving Rey very much alone, with nothing but thousands of books and games and a grumpy manager for company.

A grumpy manager who very much hates Rey.

A grumpy manager who Rey very much does _not_ hate right back.

* * *

**ONE YEAR EARLIER**

* * *

Rey is feeling significantly less stressed than she was twenty minutes ago. And that's all thanks to Finn.

Everything about him seems to soothe her—the way he moves his hands while he talks, the cheerful tone of his voice, the way his smile seems to take over his whole face. And he keeps making Rey laugh with his lame jokes.

She finds herself sincerely hoping that they become friends.

It's her first day at _Skywalker Book and Game Emporium_ and she'd walked through the chiming front doors shaking with nerves. She'd expected to be greeted and shown around by Luke, the grouchy older man who had interviewed and subsequently hired her. Instead it had been Finn enthusiastically waving to her from behind the front counter before walking over to her, leaving a petite young woman named Rose to man the fort for the time being.

"We're not super busy," Finn explains. "Mondays usually aren't, at least not until the afternoon when kids start getting out of school."

He spends the next twenty minutes leading her around the store, pointing out stands and displays that change according to the season and describing the importance of displaying the books so that they look appealing to the eye. Eventually they make their way into the graphic novel and manga section, where Finn starts enthusiastically showing her a best-seller.

Rey blinks down at the manga in his hand while he tries to go over the overarching plot. He talks faster when he's excited, she realizes.

"—I guess the basics is that it's a post-apocalypse story about giants eating people, and you said you like horror so I really think you'll like this! Plus, it's been made into an anime which has made it even _more_ popular and—"

"Finn, Rose needs your help up front. I can take it from here."

Contrary to Finn's voice, which had soothed her, this new voice instantly puts Rey on high alert. She quickly turns around and spies what is absolutely, without a doubt, the hottest guy she's ever seen in her _life_.

Rey had no idea human beings were this attractive outside of the CW.

The guy, unquestionably a manger given the way he'd bossed Finn around, shifts from one foot to the other, eyeing Rey with an unreadable expression on his pale, mole dotted face. His eyes are dark, but not as dark as his hair, which is just long enough to cover the tips of what Rey suspects to be above averagely large ears.

"No problem." Finn interrupts Rey's ogling, shoving Attack on Titan back into its appropriate spot. He waves at Rey, smiling. "I'll see you later."

Rey watches as he walks off, steeling herself for a moment before turning back to the manager. Mr. Dark Eyes is staring right at her, gaze seemingly more intense than it was seconds before.

He suddenly sticks out his hand, clearing his throat. "You must be Rey. It's nice to meet you. I'm Ben."

"Pleasure to meet you." Rey reaches out to shake Ben's hand with her own. His palm slides against hers before his hand engulfs her much smaller one. In fact, pretty much everything about Ben engulfs everything about Rey. She shivers with the knowledge. She flicks her hazel eyes up to find him watching her intently, mouth not quite smiling but…

That's the moment Rey knows she's a goner.

Ben releases her hand, clearing his throat again. He gestures for her to follow him and she immediately does so, moving behind him as he leads her around the corner and down into the next aisle.

He stops on a dime, causing Rey to walk into his broad back and bump her nose between his shoulder blades. He smells like fresh laundry and _guy_, which makes Rey bite her lip.

Ben turns around, hand running through his hair. "I heard Finn say you like horror?"

Well, that's kind of random, but Rey finds herself scrambling to answer regardless. "It's probably my favorite genre. That, and science fiction."

There's an odd stretch of silence as Ben watches her for a beat too long. Then he shakes his head, bouncing on the balls of his feet and nervously running his fingers through his hair again. "Yeah, horror is my favorite genre too." His eyes roam about her face. "I just downloaded a bunch of new horror games onto my desktop, actually. Steam was having a sale."

Rey raises an eyebrow in interest. "Oh? I love horror games! Well, sort of." She feels herself flush slightly with embarrassment. "I don't own any gaming systems or anything, but I watch people play on YouTube."

Ben nods before opening and closing his mouth several times, clearly trying to come up with a response. Rey represses a smile at his awkwardness. She finds it extremely endearing. Admittedly, she'd been interested the moment she _saw_ him, but discovering that he's sort of a dweeb is making him significantly less intimidating.

"What was the last game you watched?" he finally manages.

She can't help but let a smile burst forth all over her face, sluggishly sorting through her memories of the last few weeks because, what _was_ the last game she watched someone barrel through on YouTube? She can barely concentrate, given the way his eyes feel upon her.

She finally remembers. "The fourth Mass Effect." A pause. "It's crap."

Ben chuckles, and Rey feels her heart grow three times because _oh_ how his smile transforms his face. And he's just so tall; she wants to fist her hand into his shirt and pull him down to her level.

That's how she spends the rest of her very first shift—walking around the store and chatting with Manager Ben. He brings her to the back toward the end of the day, letting her poke around at the stacks of books and merchandise that can't be put out on the floor yet. She fills out the necessary paperwork of a new hire, sneaking looks at Ben out of the corner of her eye from time to time. She even thinks she catches him looking back at her once or twice.

* * *

Rey goes about her first week at the store periodically pinching herself. She's not sure how she managed to get this lucky.

She _loves_ her job. They give her the hours she needs to actually afford her bills and she's got nearly the entire layout of the store memorized after just a few days. And she adores her handful of coworkers. Finn makes her laugh all the time and they've already grabbed food together after work on a couple of occasions.

But she most adores Ben.

Ben, who finds excuses to pull her into quick but beseeching conversations multiple times throughout every shift. Ben, who has already recommended a bunch of horror graphic novels to her. Ben, who brushed his hand over the small of her back the night before while he walked past her.

Rey hasn't had a crush this ridiculous on anyone since elementary school. She wants to scrawl her name with Ben's last name all over her nonexistent diary back home, wants to gab to anyone who will listen about how nice she finds his hair and his voice and his hands and his smile and his—

It's bad.

The good news is Rey is fairly convinced that these feelings are reciprocated. He's into her too. Either that, or Ben Solo has decided to be the friendliest person on earth to her and her alone.

It's early evening on a Monday, a week after her first day, and Rey is straightening up the front counter when Finn groans from behind her.

Rey jerks her head up. "What's wrong?"

"It's Mr. Hutt. He comes in a couple of times a month with his…dog. It's debatably the most horrible creature on this planet."

The way Finn hesitates before saying the last word makes Rey put down her cleaning rag and peer out the large front windows. A very fat man is making his way into the store. The oldest, ugliest dog that Rey has ever seen in her life is lumbering along behind the man, belly hanging low to the ground.

The dog looks like a very fat Rizzo the Rat from the Muppets.

As soon as the dog walks through the front entrance it pisses on the floor. Rey, who is typically a lover of all animals, instantly despises the critter after that. Ugly Rizzo starts yapping at an unsuspecting customer standing by the Best Sellers while Rey mops up the mess.

Hutt's awful dog ends up shitting in the Fantasy section twenty minutes later, trying to hump Rey practically to death while she cleans up the feces and wipes down the floor with a wet wipe.

After Hutt leaves (without purchasing anything), Finn and Rey immediately start cracking jokes.

Finn starts. "That dog—"

"Oh my _god_." Rey slumps over, propping her elbows up by her register. "He's the worst."

"I told you. Is he not the ugliest thing you've ever seen?"

Neither of them hears the set of feet moving around the Hallmark display to the right of the registers, out of sight of them both.

Rey nods vigorously, spreading her arms for emphasis. "He's hideous! And his _ears_. Normally I don't make fun of looks but holy hell, those ears could pick up channels."

Finn barks out a laugh at that, grinning. "And the way he kept trying to hump your leg? Take a hint."

"I know! Like, quit trying to hump me because I'm not fucking interested."

Both coworkers dissolve into sniggers and the day passes without further incident.

* * *

A few days after that and Ben writes her up for being two minutes late.

* * *

**NOW**

* * *

"Are you just going to stand by the window and stare out at the snow all night?"

Ben's harsh tone takes Rey by surprise, makes her jump. She turns, arms crossed under her breasts, and regards her manager with a single arched eyebrow. "I'm not even on the clock."

He scowls at her, mirroring her body language and crossing his own arms. "Well, you have my permission to hop back on the clock and make yourself useful." He gestures vaguely to his left. "Middle-grade fiction needs to be alphabetized again. I saw a lot of titles out of order when I was shelving truck yesterday."

"I'm not doing that."

Rey can almost feel his irritation thicken and grow headier in the air. She moves her weight between her feet, trying not to wince.

Ben blinks at her, expression becoming more and more livid. "So, you're just going to stand there—"

"We are _snowed in_," Rey snaps, losing her patience. "I'm here because I literally cannot go home. It's almost eleven 'o'clock and I am _not_ going to crawl around the kids section resorting books. In fact—" She cuts herself off, grabbing for her coat and car keys underneath the counter before jerking her head toward the front entrance. "Can you unlock the doors for me?"

Rey isn't really sure how she expected Ben to react to that request. Happily let her outside and lock the door behind her to leave her trapped in the snow, perhaps. She is _not_ expecting him to blanch, shoulders stiffening in obvious discomfort.

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, refusing to make eye contact. "Jesus, Rey. You don't have to resort middle-grade fiction. I was just… You don't have to… I don't want you to try to walk home in this."

It's probably the most concern he's expressed over her well being since her very first week working here.

Rey feels her lips part a bit in surprise. "I'm uh, not trying to leave."

Ben's face goes blank. "You're not?"

She shakes her head. "No. I just want to try and get something out of my car."

"Oh."

There's a brief but loaded silence before Ben holds out his hand.

Rey draws away from said hand in confusion, causing her manger to roll his eyes. "Give me your keys, Rey."

"Why?"

"So I can grab what you need from your car."

"I can just get it myself."

"No. It's nasty outside."

"But I'm parked literally right there."

"Yes, in the parking spots typically reserved for customers."

Rey wants to throttle him. "It was snowing when I got here—"

"Just give me your keys."

"I can get my own stuff out of my own car."

"For the love of fucking _god_, Rey—"

"Just unlock the damn doors!"

"_Fine!"_

"Fine!"

Ben storms over to the front entrance, fiddling with the lanyard around his neck where his store keys jingle. He unlocks the front doors and holds the door wide open for her, allowing snow to flutter and swirl through the doorway. It's all quite dramatic.

Rey makes a mad dash out into the white covered parking lot, stepping with care so as to avoid slipping on ice. She makes it to her car and grabs what she needs out of the backseat, thanking all her lucky stars that the locks in her car doors haven't frozen. She cradles the object protectively under her arm, coat obscuring it from Ben when she quickly makes her way back inside.

Ben locks the door behind her as she shudders appreciatively in the heat.

The store is quiet again now that the howling winter winds are back outside, making Ben's next statement seem much louder than it actually is. "What was so important to get?"

Rey sniffs. "It's how you and I are going to survive tonight."

Ben's look of skepticism melts into one of pure shock when Rey pulls the treasured item out from under her coat.

It's a bottle of tequila.

then hurries away. She hears the door leading into the back slam shut seconds later.


	2. part two

**12am**

* * *

"When were you planning on paying for that?"

Ben's voice comes off as bored, but he wouldn't have wandered over to where Rey is currently sitting if he wasn't curious. It makes her press her lips together in order to hide a smug smile.

"In the morning after we open." She straightens up and flicks her eyes over to the tall man hovering near her chair. "I promise I'm not stealing, Boss Man."

His nostrils flare.

It's been nearly an hour since she journeyed outside for her precious tequila. She's been stealing small swigs periodically until around five minutes ago, when she'd promptly decided that it might be more fun (and less disgusting) to take proper shots.

She'd marched right over to the comic section where they sell a plethora of superhero merchandize and grabbed a four-pack of Marvel shot glasses before making her way into the back.

They have a long table set up as a makeshift dining area where employees can take their breaks. Rey is now commandeering it, setting up the four shot glasses along with her tequila and a bottle of lemonade she'd nabbed from where they sell cold bottled drinks by the registers.

She rubs her hands together in delight, the warmth from what's she's already had to drink spreading to her fingertips. Rey wouldn't necessarily describe her current state as tipsy, per se, but she's definitely feeling a little bolder than she had an hour ago.

Ben looks more skeptical by the second.

"Which one would you like to use?" Rey gestures dramatically to the shot glasses. "We've got Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Thor."

His brown eyes flick up toward the ceiling. "I'm not drinking with you."

"You're right, the Hulk makes the most sense." She pushes the glass over in front of the seat next to her, indicating with a jerk of her head that Ben should sit down before grabbing Captain America for herself.

Ben seems torn between wanting to argue with her shot glass choice for him and protesting the fact that she's beginning to pour shots for them both.

He settles on the former while reluctantly sliding into the seat next to her. "Why am I the Hulk? Are you trying to apply that I have anger issues—"

Rey can't help the giggle that escapes from her mouth. "You definitely have anger issues."

"Wow, fuck you Rey. I do not have fucking anger issues—Why are your pouring lemonade into your tequila shot?"

Rey shrugs. "It makes it less gross."

Ben looks so startled that he seems to have forgotten his tirade. "I've never seen someone do that before."

"Well, I don't exactly have what I need for margaritas, do I?" She taps her fingertip to her temple. "Gotta improvise."

He scoffs. "Yeah, okay."

There's a pause. "Do you want lemonade in your tequila sh—"

"_No_. That's not necessary."

Rey feels very much as if she's won a battle here, so she pours Ben's shot with a bit of a flourish. She takes her own shot in hand and holds it up, thinking for a moment that she and her manager will clink glasses and perhaps come to some sort of truce for the night.

Except he quickly tosses back his shot, face not changing at all despite what Rey knows must be intense unpleasantness. He then shocks her by grabbing the liquor bottle and pouring himself a second shot. Rey watches with wide eyes as he quickly takes that one as well before standing up and striding purposefully away from her.

Rey resigns herself to a cold, cold night by taking her own second shot.

* * *

**1am**

* * *

Rey has had four lemonade tequila shots. Which, technically, might not be much to some. But Rey is feeling pretty good. She's not necessarily a lightweight but—

She certainly wouldn't be this elated to annoy Ben while sober.

She's perched cross-legged atop the GUEST SERVICES help station, corded desk phone in her left hand and her personal cell phone in her right. Rey has barely seen Ben in the past hour; he's spent most of it completely avoiding her. In fact, if she wasn't the one commandeering the tequila bottle and subsequently the one allocating the three more shots he's taken since midnight, she suspects she wouldn't have seen him at all.

It's times like these when she really does begin to question her unending crush on Ben. Finn and Rose certainly do.

For the most part she can't explain it. They'd _vibed_ that first day, if people still believed in that sort of thing. Which, if Rey is being completely honest with herself, she doesn't really know if she does. But despite the fact that Ben is consistently a snide asshole to her most of the time, she'd gotten a glimpse of how sweet he could be when one wasn't on his bad side. It's torture to Rey, not being able to understand where she went wrong. Why she isn't worth getting to know and committing to. Again.

But attraction to Ben is still undeniably there. Rey always finds herself looking his way when they work together, always finds herself smiling at the patient way he treats kids, always feels her heart swelling when, despite how gruff he can be with his fellow employees, he consistently defends them to rude and unfair customers. She likes the man underneath the mask of arrogant mystery he seems to shroud himself with.

It's why she's preparing to lure him out of wherever he's hiding with what she knows is music he _hates_. She'd overheard him _loudly_ complaining about this artist to Poe Dameron in the back office a couple of months ago.

If there's one thing she's figured out about Ben Solo since she's started working here, it's that the man is a total music snob. He seems to have an opinion on almost every artist to play on the radio. And the majority of those opinions are negative.

Smirking, Rey scrolls through her Spotify account until she lands on Cardi B. She hits the button on the desk phone that turns on the intercom that'll echo throughout the entire store. Then she presses play.

The beat begins, then Cardi starts rapping. "_This goes for all my nasty hoes, yeah / From across the globe woo (hol' up)…_"

Rey hears Ben before she seems him. He turns swiftly out of the Bargain Section (Rey has no idea why he's _there_) and onto the main aisle that cuts down the middle of the store. His steps are teetering just so, just slightly enough that most wouldn't notice unless they weren't already attuned to how Ben's body usually moves. But Rey's gaze zeros in on how he's leaning every so slightly to his right. Seems like he's feeling the tequila too.

He looks _thunderous._

Rey is already openly tittering by the time he reaches her.

"Rey—"

"Hi, Ben."

"—turn this absolute _trash_ off."

Rey places her hand on top of her phone and slides it closer to her bent knee, delighting in how Ben's eyes follow the movement sharply. "What, you don't like Cardi B?"

"_Now, I said luxury apartments (wow) / I'm young and I'm heartless (yeah)—"_

"No, because I have ears. Holy shit, this is _super fucking loud_—" He cuts himself off, fumbling for the desk phone, only to be effectively blocked from pressing any buttons by Rey unfolding a leg and flinging it across the desk. Ben will have to touch her calf if he wants to mess with the intercom.

"But_ I_ like Cardi B." Rey can't help but bite her bottom lip, trying and failing to hold in her playfulness.

Ben scoffs, looking genuinely affronted. "Well, it's not my fucking problem if you have shit taste in rap."

Despite herself Rey bristles. "And what, pray tell, would you consider "great rap"? And don't you dare say Nicki Minaj."

"She's much better than this drivel." Ben's lower body is pressed against the GUEST SERVICES desk, eyes roving back and forth between Rey, the desk phone, and Rey's leg. Needless to say, he is quite close. Rey can feel the heat subtly coming from his body, can smell him. He's always smelled so good to her, ever since that very first day.

"Nicki Minaj is a spoiled brat _and_ overrated!"

Ben moves impossibly closer, as if he's going to lunge for the phone at any moment. Rey could so easily touch his chest…

"_Bitch you pressed, you can flex / Get some money, hoe, tell me why you stressed—"_

"_Rey_." Ben looks like he's in sincere pain. Then he changes tactics. He does lunge forward, like Rey had been suspecting he would, but not for the desk phone but for her cell phone. His hand, it's so large and she remembers how it had engulfed her own that first day and _why Ben Solo_, Rey wonders, _why did you have to decide I'm not worth it_—

Her own fingers curl around her phone first, but then his hand is on her own and he's prying—Rey didn't know someone could pry _gently_—it away from her. She scrambles, trying to grab it back before he turns off the music. She gets a grip on it and suddenly the two of them are having a tug-of-war over her phone. Rey lets out a shriek of mirth when an inch slides out of his grasp, grin stretched so wide across her face that her cheeks hurt. A ghost of a smile crosses Ben's mouth then, as if he can't bare to see Rey so joyful and not react as such. It makes something in Rey's chest squeeze, and suddenly she can't remember why they're tussling over her cell in the first place.

Ben looks a little startled when Rey all but hands her device over to him. With obvious relief he opens the phone, fiddling with the Spotify app briefly before…

Silence.

Ben's eyes meet her hazel ones. He slowly hands her phone back to her, and now that Cardi B isn't ringing across the store Rey's heartbeat feels a little too _much_ inside her chest, too loud and too furious for her liking.

Ben shocks her by saying, "Did you want to do another shot?"

* * *

**2am**

* * *

Rey is definitely kind of drunk, at this point.

She and Ben are sitting in the small, makeshift lounge area in the middle of the store that's set up for customers to read. She'd suggested to Ben that they hunker down over here if they're going to keep drinking, and she can't quite remember why, exactly, they'd opted to sit with their backs against the couch instead of on the couch itself. Rey supposes the reasoning must have been pretty sound at the time.

But now her butt cheeks are turning numb against the carpet covered concrete.

Either way, she's _sitting next to Ben_. Ben, who has been nicer to her this past hour than he's been since her very first week. Rey is smiling happily to herself, unable to care about how dopey she would probably look if anyone saw her like this.

Ben's own expression isn't as carefree as her own, but he's relaxed. He's cradling the tequila bottle, now over two-thirds of the way empty, against his stomach. Fully prepared to let Rey have another swig if she reaches for it. They've both given up on using shot glasses; perhaps it was always too grandiose of an idea.

Ben lets out a low, deep breath of contentment. Rey isn't quite sure how much he's had to drink, but she suspects they're about on the same level, intoxication wise.

Which is why drunk Rey's brain deduces that drunk Ben probably wants to munch on candy as badly as she does.

"Look what I snagged from the front register." Rey pulls a pack of Sweetarts from the pocket of her hoodie, not even bothering to conceal her delight. "Would you like—"

"Are you stealing again?" Ben's tone sounds accusatory, which is why Rey jerks her head to look at him. She opens her mouth to explain that _no _of course she isn't stealing, and she fully plans on—

Except his mouth is turned upward in playfulness. He's watching her, waiting to see if she'll continue speaking. But Rey can't seem to find her tongue, or her attention span, or her rational thought. She can't stop looking at Ben Solo, can't stop taking in the way he's still watching at her, with a softness that a long time ago she had stopped hoping would ever be directed at her.

He finally speaks, clearing his throat and breaking through the fog that had briefly overtaken her senses. "No thanks." Rey's confusion must be all over her face because he huffs out a laugh before clarifying. "I don't want any candy."

"Oh." Rey glances down at the bag in hand. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"But they're yummy."

"I'll bet."

"They're yummy like _you're_ yummy."

Every atom inside Rey's body freezes. Because, while the statement had been completely true, Rey hadn't actually meant for that private thought to fly out from between her lips without so much as a_ thank you, mam._

She swallows, suddenly feeling a tad light headed, and forces herself to look at Ben and gage his reaction.

He's shaking his head, not looking put out but…not looking happy. "Yeah, okay."

Something inside of Rey's chest crumbles a bit at his displeased expression. Does he…

"Ben."

Now he won't look at her. Her and her stupid mouth.

"_Ben_."

A muscle in his jaw jumps.

"Ben, do you not think you're attractive?" She asks tentatively and with good reason. His whole-body tenses at her words.

She skootches a little closer to him, her knee brushing up against his own. Rey wills her drunk brain to sound articulate. "Because, um, you are."

She mistakes the shortening of his breath for excitement, maybe uncomfortableness. She presses on. "You're super into the coolest shit ever and you _always_ smell good and you're fucking big and you're always so sweet to kids and all animals love you even if you don't love them, which means by Disney standards you're pure of heart—"

"Rey." She misses the warning in his voice.

"And you're so big, did I already say that? And you've got nice hair and—"

"_Rey_."

"—your ears. I love them so much. I just want to fucking _lick_—"

"REY!"

She shuts her mouth immediately.

Ben is—shaking. He stands, taking the warmth he'd been giving out with him. Rey is left bereft in the coldness of his sudden absence. He even left the tequila bottle.

He runs both hands through his hair, indicating max stress. "Rey," he begins, and his voice quivers in _anger. _

She squeaks out an apology, wary and confused over where this situation is heading.

"You are," he continues, "the fakest person I have ever had the displeasure of meeting."

It's such a stupidly dumb and inaccurate statement that the first thing Rey does is snort.

Then she's _mad. _Because if Rey has done anything consistently throughout her life, it's be herself. Being herself is why she's right in this very spot. Rey doesn't know how to be anyone else, doesn't know how to put on a mask and twirl through life pretending to feel and think and _be_ differently. Rey doesn't know how to be anyone other than herself. It's why his insult cuts so deep.

"What do you mean I'm _fake?"_ She's on her feet now too, determined not to appear any shorter than she has to.

"I mean you're fucking fake."

Rey marches forward until she can prod the point of a finger right into Ben's chest. She hopes it leaves a bruise. "And how would you know?! You don't know a damn thing about what I think or how I feel!"

Ben doesn't step away from her, only looks down at Rey with a ferocity she happily matches. "I know that you're a liar."

Rey's temper flares, hot and bright, and she almost shoves him. "When have I ever lied to you, Ben?"

He snaps, face twisting in fury, before turning around and knocking over a display. Books and the cardboard display box slam into the floor, the bang of it reverberating throughout the store.

"You literally lied to me just now!" Ben has shifted back in her direction, eyes wide and intense. "You sat there and talked about all these things that you apparently like about me—"

"I _do_ like those things about you!"

"You said you'd lick my ears!"

"Of course I would!" Rey growls. "_They're fucking adorable!"_

Ben looks disgusted. "If that's true, then why did you say they were 'so big they should have their own channels'?!"

Rey's brain, which is still fairly drunk and hyped on adrenaline, goes blank. She has no idea how to answer that, because she's definitely made that joke before, remembers saying that joke in the past to Finn. But of course she hadn't been talking about _Ben_…

"Why the fuck would you stand there, at the front of the store, and say all that bullshit to Finn about my ears and me humping your leg, when you'd spent that whole week before being so sweet?" He pauses, coughs. When Ben starts speaking again his voice is thicker. "Honestly, it would have been completely—it _is _completely fine if you don't like me. Most people don't. I would just really appreciate it if you weren't, you know, _fake _about it."

And then Ben is walking, towards the back and away from—

"Do you mean Crumble?"

Ben stills, pinches the bridge of his nose as he turns back to her, as if he can't believe he's about o humor her even further. "What?"

"Are you talking about Crumble? Hutt's dog? You know, the one with the big ears who likes to hump my leg?"

Ben slowly lowers his hand to his side, still not fully facing her. His face has gone very pale.

"Because I make fun of his ears every time he comes in. And he came in around my first week, if I remember correctly. If you've ever heard me mocking someone's ears or implying that they've been humping me, then I can guarantee I'm talking about that horrible canine-adjacent creature."

Ben's throat bobs as he swallows, and he won't look at her. Probably because he's afraid of what he'll see if he does, the earnestness written all over Rey's face something he cannot allow himself to accept just yet.

Rey decides to close the space between them; she steps right up to him, keeps her arms across her chest so that she won't be tempted to touch him. Not just yet.

"Ben." He inhales at the sound of his name. "I—I really like you. You can ask Finn and Rose if you don't believe me. They'll tell you all about my absurd crush on you. And it is absurd because I've been into you since the moment I saw you which is silly, but it's also absurd because…you're…a total dick to me."

Ben makes a quiet sound from his chest, low and soft, almost a whine. It gives Rey the courage to continue. She lowers her hands, inhales and exhales deeply.

"And that's been pretty lame, but I can see why, now. And despite everything I still—I—"

She's already said it and yet somehow, this time it is by far the most difficult. She's already made her point and spoken most of her peace. But saying this next thing makes her feel so vulnerable, so minutely terrified and raw and open for a wound.

"I really like you, Ben."

Rey looks up and his gaze finally meet with hers. His brown eyes are wide, mirroring the same alarm that she'd been experiencing just a moment ago.

Ben opens his mouth, snaps it closed, then hurries away. She hears the door leading into the back slam shut seconds later.

* * *

**A/N:**

The last installment is coming soon! I suspect some tension will finally be released ;) Thank you for reading! If you liked let me know?


	3. part three

The first thing Rey does after Ben disappears into the back of the store is text Finn _**please fling me off a cliff**_ and then about seventeen upside-down face emojis.

When Finn does not reply as promptly as she would like, she frowns at the home screen of her phone before realizing with a jolt that it's nearly three in the morning. Finn is likely passed out asleep.

And Rey is stuck as wide awake as ever, with a boss who is likely having an existential crisis over her, probably. She groans and rubs at her temples, willing away the headache that is creeping up.

With a sigh, she tucks her phone into her pocket before rolling her shoulders and marching off toward the back. She briefly tries to convince herself that it's simply to grab an extra blanket, but no.

It's to check on Ben.

The store is dark and quiet as she approaches the back, and even though she's spent more hours apart from Ben tonight than with him, somehow Rey feels lonelier than she ever has before.

_He knows how you feel and immediately made an escape attempt as soon as you were done confessing._

When she reaches the back her hand lingers on the doorknob while she attempts to collect herself. It would probably be best to turn around and curl up in one of the squishy reading armchairs with a few fleece Pokemon blankets they have sitting in overstock. It would probably be best to just forget about how enthusiastically she'd told Ben Solo that she wanted to lick his ears.

Instead Rey pushes the door open, letting it loudly slam shut behind her so that Ben knows she's here. She peers around, eyebrows furrowing when she doesn't immediately see him. She ducks into the small corner office, expecting to find him hunched over some paperwork but…

He's not there either. Ben isn't in the back at all.

Pace quickening in growing confusion and a trickle of concern, she makes her way out of the back and nearly walks right past the bathrooms before hesitating.

Being an employee here means that she's had to clean the men's bathroom during closing shifts numerous times, so she doesn't bat an eye when she pushes open the door and walks right inside.

And there Ben is, leaning over the sink and splashing water onto his face.

He straightens in surprise when he sees her. "Rey—"

"Are you okay?" She can't help but interrupt. Ben is quite pale. Well, paler than usual. "Did you throw up?"

He shakes his head, shuffling over to the paper towel dispenser and grabbing a few sheets to dry his hands and face with. "No." His voice is low, tired. "No, I thought I was going to, but I didn't. Just, uh…just dry heaved a little."

Rey feels the corners of her mouth tilt upward, as if her body is trying to reassure him without her even having to signal it to. "I'm glad you didn't puke."

Ben's head is still down, not quite making eye contact, and Rey watches as a drop of water drips from his hair into the collar of his shirt. He tosses the used paper towels into the trash and laughs, but it is completely without humor. "Well, clearly I'm still a mess."

He sniffs, finally tilts his face up so that he can look Rey in the eye proper. "I'm a mess over you." And then he shrugs, defeated.

* * *

_I'm a mess over you._

It had been overwhelming, the way Ben had been looking at her in that moment.

Which is why Rey, instead of stepping up to him and brushing his damp hair away from his face and assuring him that she's a mess over him too, had stayed riveted to the spot and said, "Would you like some water?" in the squeakiest voice imaginable.

Ben had said yes, and the speed in which Rey had flown out of the bathroom is simply embarrassing. She's not sure why, but she just—she feels—

It's a lot.

She grabs two water bottles from the cooler up at the front of the store and then makes her way toward the back again. Rey is nervous now, hyperaware of how hot her cheeks feel and how her gate is antsy. She is both dreading what's about to happen while also being immensely excited for it. Whatever_ it_ may be.

She finds Ben sitting at the break table where they'd both taken shots together earlier in the evening. So much has fucking happened since then, and Rey can tell that her fingers are trembling when she hands him his water bottle.

He accepts it meekly, watching her closely as she pulls up a chair and sits down beside him. Rey uncaps hers and starts sipping, enjoying how cool the water feels against her dry throat.

Ben gulps down over half of his in under thirty seconds before capping it and setting the bottle down on the top of the table. And then it's like, it's like he can't take his gaze off her.

His lips part, the fingers of his right hand curl inward in anxiety, and he sucks in a deep breath. He's gearing himself up to apologize, to tell her he's sorry for all his shitty behavior toward her over the past year, how he didn't _realize_, and that he had been _stupid_. Rey can tell, because she's never seen him like this before. Toward _anyone_.

Ben Solo just doesn't tell people he's sorry.

But he's about to tell her.

So Rey does what seems like the most logical action in her brain. She stands, leans over Ben, and kisses him before he can say anything at all.

He doesn't move at first, probably because Rey has shocked him. But then he gasps, a sound that goes straight to the bottom of Rey's spine, and leans forward. He sucks her bottom lip between her teeth and his palm slides against her hip, yanking her closer so that she's standing between his legs.

And just like that Ben has taken control of the kiss. His tongue slips into her mouth, breath heavy and eyes closed. Rey finds her hands landing on his shoulders just to steady herself, just to make sure she doesn't sink to her knees when her legs feel like they're about to buckle. Ben moans just a little, fingers digging in roughly to the skin around her hip bones.

Rey does what seems like the next logical step, considering all the ridiculous turns this night has already taken. She breaks the kiss and slides a tiny step back, much to Ben's disapproval, then kicks off her shoes and wiggles out of her black leggings before she can lose her cool.

Ben's eyes widen and zero in between her legs. Rey is wearing a white pair of panties and she hasn't trimmed down there in at least a month. Her wetness causes the cotton to cling to the shape of her cunt, to clearly show the soft brushing of dark hair. Ben's chest begins to rise and fall erratically.

He dips his head, leans forward, and mouths at that damp spot between her legs. Rey widens her stance so he can access her better, whimpering when his tongue darts out to press between her lips, to taste her.

Then, almost like a predator, he pounces.

Ben stands so suddenly he nearly knocks his head with Rey's, scooping her up and placing her onto the break table before Rey has any idea what's going on. He spreads her knees apart so that he can stand between her legs, as close as he can be for the time being, before bringing his mouth to hers with a kiss that makes her cunt clench around _nothing_.

An issue that Ben seems all too happy to rectify. He grabs at the waistband of her underwear, blindly pulling at them until they rip with a sharp yank. Then he's curling two fingers inside of her.

"_Fuck_." Rey breaks the kiss to gasp against his mouth, mind fucking _blank_ as Ben sucks a mark into the skin below her ear.

Which reminds her…

She takes his face between her hands, startling Ben enough that his fingers pause momentarily inside her. Rey presses little kisses against his jaw as she works her way up the sharp line of it, until his hair is brushing against her nose, until—

Rey _licks_ along the shell of Ben's ear with the hot tip of her tongue, then sucks the lobe between her lips and works the soft flesh gently with her teeth.

Ben lets out a groan, long and low and so sexy Rey can't help but scoot a little closer to him. She glances down and clearly sees the hard outline of his cock straining against his pants. She feels his jaw move underneath her chin when he rasps, "Please, Rey. _Please_ let me fuck you."

Her trembling fingers start fiddling with his zipper in answer.

They both move hurriedly to get his cock out, and Rey squirms in happy anticipation when Ben gets his boxers and pants down enough so that it's free. It's—It's wet at the tip and red and quite big and he is clearly _ready_ for her, just as much as Rey is ready for him and at the beginning of tonight this sort of thing would only ever happen in her imagination.

Then Ben is shakily saying that he doesn't have a condom and Rey is reassuring him that it doesn't matter because she's on the pill and _Ben, I want you to come inside me please come inside of me._

Legs spread so wide it's almost uncomfortable, both Rey and Ben watch between their bodies as he places the tip of his cock at her entrance and starts to push inside. The angling is slightly awkward, given how Rey is perched at the edge of a table and Ben is looming over her, forced to hunch a bit because of their height difference. But then Ben pushes one of her knees up and Rey cants her hips _just_ so and like that he's sliding all the way to the hilt with a slick ease.

Ben swears loudly; they both shudder at how completely and utterly exquisite it feels. Rey feels her body clamp down on his cock in excitement, as if her cunt is already determined to keep him inside of her for as long as possible. Despite the angle, she curls what she can of her legs around his waist and ass, enjoying the fullness.

He's so deep she feels him twitch inside before he pulls out and slams back in, setting a pace of short, deep, and brutal thrusts that have Rey mewling out high cries and obscenities in no time.

Panting, Ben reaches between them and starts to rub fitfully at her clit, making the deep-rooted pleasure she's already experiencing catapult her even further upward. With that, it doesn't take long before Rey's orgasm sweeps over her with quick, vicious efficiency. She screams with it, at a complete loss of control over her own body as her vision whites out and the muscles of her cunt clamp and unclamp sharply against Ben's length buried within.

It's proves to be his undoing.

"Rey—_Shit_." He buries his face into her neck, hips stuttering as his cock starts to pulse. A nearly scalding kind of heat blooms in her core as he releases, his body staying still inside her own, as if letting Rey's still twitching cunt wring all the pleasure out of him.

And then he's slipping out, stepping back, and Rey keeps her legs spread apart as they both watch some of his semen dribble out of her. Rey takes in how much of a mess he's made of her, and she rolls her hips and clenches her muscles to see if more of it will seep out. She smirks when more of it doesn't, really; he's come too deep inside of her.

When she looks up, she expects Ben to have his gaze still fixated between her legs. Instead, his eyes are pinned to her own with a vulnerable, open expression on his face that Rey can only describe as lovesick.

"This is by far the best night of my life," he breathes.

* * *

They curl up on the couch together in the last hours of the night, Rey sprawled out on top of Ben with her head tucked underneath his chin. She presses her cheek against his chest, enjoying the calming steady beat of his heart as it thumps gently against her.

He whispers his apologies for the past year, finger tracing circles into her lower back. Rey falls asleep to the lull of Ben's deep voice as he starts to tell her everything he likes about her. She keeps hearing his sweet words as she slips into dreams.

* * *

They both jolt awake in the morning to Rey's phone receiving about a dozen texts from Finn in rapid succession.

**omg **

**sorry just woke up**

**just seeing your text**

**is everything okay?**

**a lot of the snow has melted already so I can probably try to come rescue you!**

**has fuckong Solo said some shit**

**okay my driveway is literally still ice but a bitch WILL WALK**

**I know Solo said somethin**

**I'M GONNA KILL HIM**

**please kno Rey that I would happily serve a lifetime prison sentence in ur honor!**

**I'm getting dressed**

**I'M COMING FOR YOU BABE**

Ben groans and starts muttering sleepily as Rey grabs for her phone from where it's lying on the floor next to the couch. She's honestly shocked it still has any charge left. Ben watches her with one eye cracked open as she hastily starts to type out her replies.

**no no everything is okay!**

**more than okay**

**I walked into the store yesterday with underwear on**

**and am leaving without them because *someone* tore them off**

**heh**

She ignores Finn's instant response (which is a bunch of letters streamed together and about thirty different emojis) in order to turn to Ben and place a peck on the tip of his chin.

"Hey, do you want to go out with me?" She can't help but beam as she asks.

Her beaming brightens even more when Ben says yes.

* * *

**A/N:**

I'm so sorry for the long wait. I had like, a baby mental breakdown. But I'm feeling a bit better now, and with the trailer dropping yesterday I struck while the inspiration iron was hot.

I hope it was worth the wait ;)


End file.
